Peroneal Tendonitis Onset? (Read 67 times)

At least I think that's what I might be battling, though the onset has been a complete head-scratcher.

Last week I had a relatively easy week, before a final ramp-up for a duathlon in <5 weeks. My last run was 3 days ago, just a 2mi. portion of a brick workout. The past 2 days I've done easy/short pedals on the nowhere bike (Zwift).

This AM I woke with a sore...maybe even slightly swollen spot that I'm reasonably certain is peroneal tendon -- kind of below and forward of my lateral ankle bone. I had a similar issue over a decade ago, but I was running a TON more miles, then. This year my mileage has been particularly low, courtesy of chauffeuring my ruptured tendon'd DH around (definitely a more interesting story than my "injury") and working past my own intermittent anemia issues.

I haven't had any discomfort while running, just this sudden tenderness, today. I've got an 8 miler on the agenda, but I'm thinking I might want to pick a route that makes it easy to bail, if I get a couple of miles in and it's clearly unhappy.

Guess it's good that I haven't actually registered for any upcoming races.

Ooh, I've never tried Voltaren, but I think we have a tube of it. DH has had to use it, in the past.

My left foot has always been prone to random sprains...just blammo -- roll! Right foot has never been a problem, not even once. *knocks on wood* I definitely have some wonky biomechanics (and, yeah, I suck at doing PT/strengthening stuff, because those things are boring. Same reason I tend to neglect my core until my lower back hollers at me). My arches aren't even close to high, but I border on supination, at least based-upon my wear patterns in super neutral, flexible shoes.

I hadn't thought about strengthening the medial side of things, but I suspect you're onto something.

I wouldn't necessarily go into major damage control if you just noticed this AND it doesn't bother you when you run. Then again, 2-3 days off never hurt anyone either. So maybe take the 2-3 days off, follow the strengthening routine, and then go by pain while running as your guide after that.

 

I agree on the routine too - if you have a TheraBand, doing work in all 4 directions is great for this injury. It really helped me when I had it.

I cut my run a little short (8 down to 5.5) and am hoping to not have any more training plan interruptions. It didn't really feel too bothersome. I may change my tune, come morning. I'm bordering on downgrading my upcoming race from Olympic distance to sprint...though I'm loathe to do that, as Olympic is a higher percentage on the bike, which always works to my advantage.

So here's the weird thing...I think it may actually be a super mild sprain. Is there something < grade 1?! By last evening I had a bit more swelling and even some slight bruising. WTF?! I looked at my sleep tracker log from 2 nights ago and I didn't even get up to pee, simply woke with a sore ankle. So maybe it's something I did on Monday...? All I can think is maybe when I twisted my ankle out to unclip from my bike that I did something, but that wouldn't be the sort of rolling motion that would cause a sprain. Huh? And it's completely bonkers that I didn't have any sort of discomfort until morning.

This is why I no longer run trails. I can sprain my ankles on dry pavement...or while in my house.

Meanwhile my DH is recovering from a complete achilles tear suffered the first night we were in St. John, USVI on vacation, back in late March. He was "running up that hill" (I'm loving Kate Bush on the top of the pop charts, courtesy of a couple of guys who were infants when she released that song) that our rental cottage was on and blammo!! I'll take sprains, ANY day. He's still a month or two from being able to drive. We're kinda F'd if I end up super injured. One of his rear brakes totally seized on his vehicle, from being parked so long, and my car's a manual (I did drive, years ago, with a grade 3 sprain...against doc's wishes). I don't have time for my ankle to misbehave, now.

Yeah, I'm riding indoors, today, and tomorrow is a rest day. I expect my ankle should be mostly good by the weekend. Worst case scenario is that I train more conservatively for the next month and register for the sprint distance race, instead. Which would be a bummer...but the run course is 3 out/backs of the same 5k and it gets old really fast. Only doing that 2x wouldn't be the worst.

We loved our little rental in Coral Bay, but...holy crap, that driveway was no joke (the very bottom, right side where it's the steepest is where his achilles very dramatically ruptured as he was running up -- he's not a runner. And avid cyclists tend to have notoriously tight, short achilles, as he learned the very hard way). I got REALLY good at backing-up that thing, in spite of the fact that my Golf GTI is the largest car I've ever owned. Back-up cameras are for the weak!! 4WD is definitely required for much of St. John. 90% of the cars (rentals and otherwise) are Jeep Wranglers. The roads got extra trashed during Irma, so even without the roller-coaster roads, the actual condition is pretty bad. There's some major repaving work going on, this Summer, so at least the potholes should be better, next time.

We've already booked a make-up trip for next April, but we'll be staying in a place with a much less challenging driveway and far fewer stairs. Hopefully we reverse-jinx ourselves. We missed-out on snorkeling every day.

That side has always been prone to sprains, ever since the first one, definitely. Trail relay with lots of roots and mud after heavy rains. I managed the first 35ish years of my life without a single sprain, but they've been semi chronic on that ankle, ever since (I'm pushing 50, now). Sprains are apparently pretty self-perpetuating. The initial sprain (grade 2 that I continued to "run" on, in large part because I was in BFE without cell signal, so I had no choice but to plod along until the next exchange point) has definitely done a number on that ankle.

And I'm pretty certain that what I'm now dealing with was a super mild one, not tendonitis, as I'd initially thought, as I ended up with slight swelling and bruising as the day went on. HOW I ended up with a sprain is a complete mystery, as I didn't even set foot out of the house. My workout the previous day was on my bike trainer in the basement and I didn't have any sort of pain until I woke up. I even looked at my sleep log to see if I did something in the middle of the night, but I wasn't even up to pee.

I do have some slight leg length discrepancy that was uncovered with a bike fit. Whether it's true discrepancy or functional (perhaps the result of the sprain, but maybe the cause)...not sure without extensive scans. That bike shoe has shims, as a result. And I have spacers on my opposite foot's pedal spindle.

Thanks for that further detail. What have you done from a therapy or rehab standpoint over the years for that ankle?

Nothing formal...which I'm sure would help. I located our wobble board and we've got several therapy bands, so I should be able to find a handful of different lateral hip/ankle things that I can do while watching TV. DH and I can do tag-team PT, now, but on opposite sides of our bodies.

Just got back from a brick workout. Ankle didn't bother me at all on the bike (though I was taking it easy on my left pedal-stroke, to baby it, a bit) and only felt a little stiff on the run. Bizarro.